Most important change

After watching Waiting for Superman, I think that the most important change that K-12 education needs is a change in administration. Good teachers are crucial to a students' successful education, but based on the movies that we have seen and the articles that we have reviewed, I do not see that teachers are given the training that they need to do their jobs properly. Having some sort of a mentoring system in place would allow teachers to get their legs so to speak and be trained by someone more experienced. I think this would not only help the new teacher more quickly become a good teacher and hopefully stick with teaching, but it could also breathe new life into the more experienced teacher as well. In this change in administration I would also change how teachers retain their positions and when they receive tenure. I really liked Michelle Rhee's idea of having merit bonuses. It seems that there are too many people in positions that are making decisions for education, so I would limit the number of people who are a part of that administration process. It is disappointing to see how easily decisions are made concerning particular programs or with curriculum depending on the whims of the powers that be. We saw this in Mona Lisa Smile with the alumni board and their influence in the keeping of Ms. Watson. We saw this in Stand and Deliver when the there was virtually no support for Mr. Escalante and his vision; he worked over and above on his own. In the article by Gilyard and the NEA article we read about successful programs being cut by a lacking of funding and one under the influence of those who really knew nothing about the program. It seems that everyone involved in education has an agenda about education and there does not seem to be an agreed upon goal that we are all working towards and in the case of No Child Left Behind there is no clear process as to how to achieve this goal. There needs to be better leadership.